Aranese () is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in northwestern Catalonia close to the Spanish border with France, where it is one of the three official languages beside Catalan and Spanish. In 2010, it was declared the third official language in Catalonia by the Parliament of Catalonia."El aranés se convierte en la tercera lengua oficial de Cataluña", El País, Barcelona, 22 September 2010. Retrieved on 22 August 2014.
The official names of towns in Val d'Aran are in Occitan; for example, the municipality of Vielha is known by its Occitan name on maps and road signs, rather than its Catalan/Spanish name, Viella.
Official status
The Aran Valley is the only territory in the language domain of Occitania where Occitan has official recognition and institutional protection. According to Law 35/2010 passed by the Parliament of Catalonia, Occitan is considered an official language not only in Val d'Aran, but in all of Catalonia, and is given precedence in the territory where it is spoken (Val d'Aran).
Article 3.4 of Catalonia's 1979 Statute of Autonomy establishes that the "Aranese language will be the object of education and of special respect and protection." Subsequently, Law 7/1983, on linguistic normalization, declares Aranese the language of Aran, proclaims certain linguistic rights of the Aranese and directs public service to guarantee its usage and teaching. Aranese is taught on all levels of compulsory education and has been the medium of instruction in the Aran Valley since 1984.
A certain degree of autonomy was granted to the Aran Valley in 1990. Law 16/1990, concerning the special regime of the Val d'Aran, grants to the Valley an administrative autonomy. This law affirms the official status of Aranese, further guarantees its use and teaching, and affirms the general mandate to promote its normalization in Aran.
Law 1/1998, on linguistic policy, includes specific provisions related to place names, anthroponymy, and the media. Although the localities of Catalonia have their official names in Catalan, the localities of the Aran Valley have their official names in Occitan. Thus, the indicators of the towns and the names of their streets are written in this language. Since May 2001, there is an official regulation of the General Council of Aran that promulgates the certification system of the different levels of knowledge of Occitan.
In 2006, a new Statute of Autonomy was promulgated in Catalonia. Concerning Aranese, article 6.5 of the organic law establishes that "the Occitan language, called Aranese in Aran, is the language of this territory and is official in Catalonia, in accordance with the provisions of this Statute and the laws of linguistic normalization." In 2010, Law 35/2010 was subsequently passed, with specific provisions concerning Occitan in Catalonia reflecting the new constitutional framework.
In 2011, the Spanish Government, specifically that of the People’s Party and Citizens, opposed the preference given to Aranese by the 2010 law, questioning the constitutionality of articles 2.3, 5.4, 5.7 and 6.5. In 2018, the constitutional court ruled that while article 2.3 was found to be constitutional, the "preferential" status given found in the other concerned articles are unconstitutional.
Usage According to a 2001 linguistic census by the Aranese government, about 90% of the inhabitants of Val d'Aran can understand the language, with those between 25 and 34 years old having the lowest rate, at around 80% (excluding those under the age of 4). Between 60 and 65% of the population can speak it; however, only 26% reported being able to write in Aranese.
Knowledge of Aranesein the Val d'Aran amongpeople at least two years old 1996 2001 2008 2013 2018 Total Percentage Total Percentage Total Percentage Total Percentage Total Percentage Can understand 6,295 90.05% 6,712 88.88% 6,600 78.2% 6,840 80.7% 7,060 83.3% Can speak 4,534 64.85% 4,700 62.24% 4,800 56.8% 4,710 55.6% 5,087 60% Can read 4,145 59.29% 4,413 58.44% 5.000 59.3% 5,020 59.3% 6,234 73.5% Can write 1,746 24.97% 2,016 26.69% 2,900 34.9% 2,950 34.9% 3,880 45.8% Source : IDESCAT, Cens lingüístic de l'aranès de 2001 and Enquesta d’usos lingüístics de la població - Aran 2008/2018.Enquesta d’usos lingüístics de la població. IDESCAT/Generalitat de Catalunya.
In 2008, the Generalitat of Catalonia surveyed the population (15 years old or older) in the Val d'Aran. The survey reported that 78.2% of the population could understand Aranese, 56.8% could speak it, 59.4% could read it, and 34.8% could write the language. Enquesta d'usos lingüístics de la població 2008 (EULP 2008), Generalitat de Catalunya, 29 June 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2014. The number of people that can speak Aranese grew to 61% of the population in 2020, according to a survey of the Public Office for the Occitan Language.Enquista sociolingüistica de l’ÒPLO: mai del 90% dels sondats vòlon de politicas lingüisticas per l’occitan. Jornalet.
Once considered to be an endangered language"Aranese language becomes the 3rd co-official language in Catalonia", Catalan News Agency, 2010. Retrieved on 22 August 2014. spoken mainly by older people, it is now experiencing a renaissance; it enjoys co-official status with Catalan and Spanish within the Val d'Aran, and since 1984 has been taught bilingually alongside Spanish in schools."Curriculum der Aranés", "Conselh Generau d'Aran", 12 February 1998. Retrieved on 24 August 2014. (Aranese) Students in the Val d'Aran are required to have two hours each of Spanish, Catalan, and Aranese per week. At some levels of education, a foreign language is added to the three official languagesusually French due to proximityand sometimes even two additional hours of English.
Phonology General Gascon characteristics: Latin F > H: focus (hearth) > huec (fire) ferrum > hèr (iron) Latin LL > TH (internal or final) or R (in intervocalic position): vitellu > vedèth (calf) ille > eth (sing. masc. definite article) ille > er (sing. masc. definite article; used before words that start with a vowel sound) illa > era (sing. fem. definite article) Vocalisation of L to U in final position: malum > mau (bad) Loss of N in intervocalic position: Latin luna > lua (moon) Latin farīna > haria (flour) Metathesis of -R: Latin venter > vrente (stomach) Latin vesper > vrèspe (evening) Prosthetic A- before initial R-, doubling the R: Latin recognōscō > arreconéisher (to recognize) Latin rīdēre > arríder (to laugh) Specific Aranese characteristics: Deaspiration of Gascon > Aranese ∅ (except in Bausen and Canejan, where it remains [h]) Gascon huec (fire) > Aranese huec Gascon -AS pronounced and written -ES: Gascon hemnas > hemnes (women) Gascon parlas > parles (you speak) Plurals of nouns ending in -A become -ES: era pèira → es pèires (the stones) Intervocalic written U and pronounced : Gascon: cantava > Aranese cantaua (he/she was singing) Reduction of plural definite articles: Gascon: eths, eras > Aranese es
Consonants Consonant phonemesLabialDental/AlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal Nasal()4 Stop111 Fricative()2 Affricate Trill Tap3 LateralApproximant
Notes: The voiced stops , , are devoiced to , , , respectively, in word-final position. is pronounced only in the towns of Bausen and Canejan. Foreign words that have not been adopted into Aranese also retain : hardware, maharajah. is pronounced , except at the end of a word, where it is generally silent, regardless of what follows. is heard as an allophone of in word-final position.
Vowels Vowel phonemesConselh Generau d'Aran. "Normes Ortografiques der Aranés", 1999. Retrieved on 23 August 2014 (Aranese)FrontCentralBackClose Close-Mid ()Open-Mid Open
Diphthongs Falling diphthongs Diphthong Usual spelling Example ai aigua au sau ei1 veire èi2 lèit eu peu èu mèu iu3 hiu oi poirir òi beròi òu2 pòur Rising diphthongs Diphthong Usual spelling Example ia istòria ie vielh iè molièr io violéncia iò piòisha oaua empodoarquan oeue oelhahuec Notes: In practice, stressed ei tends to be pronounced [e]: trueita pronounced as trueta. Word-final èi is often pronounced instead of : cantèi pronounced as cantè. Similarly, speakers tend to say òu as ò : auriòu is pronounced like auriò iu can be pronounced as or : Diu Orthographic ui historically was a diphthong, but is currently produced as .
Aranese orthography denotes where two consecutive vowels do not diphthongize, but rather form a hiatus. A diaereses mark over unstressed i or u: ï, ü flaüta cocaïna coïncidir An acute accent, which marks lexical stress, on i or u: í, ú país
Comparison to other Romance languages Comparison to other Romance languages Latin Aranese Spanish Catalan Portuguese French Italian English fēsta hèsta fiesta festa festa fête festa feast lūna lua luna lluna lua lune luna moon mel mèu miel mel mel, miel miele honey castellum castèth castillo castell castelo château castello castle illa era ella ella ela elle ella ~ lei ~ she rīdēre arrir reír riure rir rire ridere to laugh capra craba cabra cabra cabra chèvre capra goat
Orthography
Digraphs Grapheme Pronunciation Example Notes ch chut lh hilh pronounced before s: hilhs ll collaborar nh nhèu n·h, with interpunct, is pronounced : en·hornar rr terrassa shish shadacaisha * following a vowel, sh must be written ish* s·h, with interpunct, is pronounced : des·hèir tjtg hotjarhormatge * before a, o, u* before e, i th vedèth, ethcòth, poth the pronunciation only occurs in Bausen and Canejan tl catla ts dits word-final ts is only used for plurals of wordsending in -t, otherwise it becomes written tz tz dotzeprètz * between vowels * word-final
Vowels Vowel Pronunciation Notes a, à stressed unstressed phrase-final e, é è i, í o, ó ò sometimes pronounced u, ú
Loanwords Since the Val d'Aran is located within Spanish and Catalan territory, Aranese is subject to certain influences from Spanish and Catalan. As such, Aranese has adopted several neologisms from them:
actuar (vs. agir) empresa (vs. entrepresa) increment (vs. aumentacion) laborau (vs. professionau) matrícula (vs. inscripcion) oficina (vs. burèu, which is a Gallicism)
Spanish and Catalan have also created deformations of words such as abans > abantes or dempús > despuès. Some Hispanicisms are directly adopted into Aranese: hasta.
Regulation Aranese is regulated under classic unifying standards of Occitan, defined initially by Loís Alibèrt. These standards of the Conselh de la Lenga Occitana (Occitan Language Council) have officially been recognized by the Conselh Generau d'Aran (General Council of Aran) since 1999.
In practice, several details standards diverge due to the popular or preferred usage of Aranese, in relation to other Gascon varieties. For instance: the form of the feminine plural -AS in general Gascon is replaced with -ES in Aranese, as the pronunciation is "/es/". Ex: hemnes araneses (Aranese women) in place of general Gascon hemnas aranesas the accepted use of U in place of V in a good deal of the Valley (but some retain the "v" as it is pronounced /b/) Ex: auer instead of aver (general Gascon always write it "v" even when pronounced /w/).
The Institut d'Estudis Aranesi is the recognized language academy by the Conselh Generau d'Aran.
Written publications Grammar A reference on usage and conjugation of Aranese verbs entitled Es Vèrbs conjugadi : morfologia verbau aranesa was written by Verònica Barés Moga and published in 2003. A descriptive and normative reference grammar book, written in Aranese by Aitor Carrera, was published in March 2007. It includes a detailed breakdown of phonological and grammatical differences between varieties of Aranese in different villages in the valley.
Dictionaries A dictionary of Aranese was written by the Catalan linguist Joan Coromines as his doctoral thesis.